


advanced epidemiology

by androgynousmikewheeler



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e06 Epidemiology, F/M, M/M, Minor Violence, Nonbinary Abed Nadir, Zombies and the connected warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27328633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousmikewheeler/pseuds/androgynousmikewheeler
Summary: They have just this moment before they forget.A deleted scene from Epidemiology.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	advanced epidemiology

It's cold.

They're hungry. So, so hungry. Ravenous.

They're bleeding a little, wounds that look suspiciously like bite marks. 

The hunger fades. The cold doesn't.

Their mind inches back into place between their ears, coming from somewhere far away, taking its place back from _something_ that's invaded. 

They blink, take in the familiar library walls torn apart around them.

And there he is, beside them as always, and his words echo in their ears.

_I love you._

_I know._

"Troy," they say, trying to clear the fog from their head, watching him do the same. They failed, then. 

"They got you," they whisper, a flash of memory, their teeth, Troy's skin, his still bleeding bicep. "I got you." They allow only their gaze to caress the wound, knowing the hurt they've caused is once more one they cannot heal. "I'm sorry."

Troy's eyes are just as intent as their own. "Don't be. You saved me, man."

Their voice is high-pitched and panicky no matter how they try to hide it. "I bit you. I killed you, Troy. I don't know how we're conscious right now, but we're dying. You're dying and it's my fault."

Troy grabs their shoulders and they don't know whether or not to flinch. "Abed, we're not dying. Don't you feel how cold it is? Your plan worked, Abed, it worked. You saved everyone."

They sink their weight into him, relief sapping any remaining adrenaline. "We saved everyone," they mumble into his shoulder.

For just a moment, Abed allows themself to revel in the warmth of Troy's arms, the soft weave of his shirt, the strength of his grip. 

And then, from the other end of the library, come shouts, quick and authoritative, and Abed's muscles tense up once more in fear. 

"What is it?" Troy asks, hackles raised.

Together, they peek around a bookshelf, down the hallway, where men in SWAT gear gas the other students, who fall to the ground around them. One soldier guides a collapsing Leonard to the floor.

Abed's mind races. "That'll be the army. They won't want news to spread. Their two choices are to kill the witnesses or make them forget. If they were going to kill us, they wouldn't be ensuring Leonard doesn't break anything. That means they're wiping our memories. We've got maybe a minute, and then we won't remember tonight." They turn to him, take his face in their hands, a touch they wish they could hold in their memory forever. "I didn't tell you, because you weren't ready. You'd better be ready now, because there isn't any time."

Troy nods. "I am."

They kiss him. The thundering of the military, the cries of their classmates, the voices of ABBA, all of it fades away to their lips on his, his hands in their hair, their skin and his skin and their breath and his breath and his and his and his and...

And hands are grabbing at them, pulling him from their grip, and it's not enough, it's not enough, it's not enough.

"I love you," they shout as the gas billows around their head.

"I know," he calls back, and for once in their life, they trust the words. 

And then the gas stings at their lungs, and it all fades to black. 

When they wake up, they don't remember.


End file.
